Re:The drab stupidity of Soylent
by fnordfnordfnord on Tuesday August 13, 2013 @10:34AM
(#6205955)
>That he is wilfully avoiding the advice of the experts...
There are enough experts with differing opinions that anyone who does anything will always be ignoring the advice of a few of them at any given time. That doesn't him right, but participation isn't compulsory in any way.
>has demonstrably already made dangerous errors and could reasonably do so again.
That is the nature of research. By adding analytical feedback to his dietary intake, he can correct mistakes. Groundbreaking discoveries are often made by young researchers who are not prejudiced in their thinking. This guy may be disadvantaged by his greater lack of knowledge in some ways, but it may turn out to be an advantage in the end. It is also a kind of sad commentary on the state of the field that this stuff isn't either: known to a high degree of confidence or if it were then, isn't communicated to non-experts in an effective way.
In fact, nutritional technology, and medical practice surrounding nutritional technology is eff-ing pathetic. (Medical technology is pathetic too, for other reasons.) We ought to have toilets that will do quasi-medical diagnostics for us by now. There is no good reason why that tech can't exist. But instead, it is far more common that people wait until they are unwell, often partially disabled in the case of dietary ailments before medical intervention is available. Dietary tech. is relatively unchanged for most people even, in affluent societies since the end of subsistence farming. If anything, many people are worse-off.
>while using paper-thin disclaimers to try to excuse himself from wrongful death and preventable illness lawsuits by relatives and insurance companies.
I'll just assume he's hired legal counsel, and said what they told him to say.
>If I was selling flying cars right now that did no more than eventually catch fire, I would be dragged into prison for fraud and being a danger to the public.
You'd be the subject of a Popular Mechanics article once or more times per year, and you might even get a cover.
>But because this bloke is selling it as a "supplement" while all the press is about total meal replacement, it's A-OK. Hunky freaking dory.
The problems with FDA regulation, food labeling, media coverage of products, advertising industry practice, are numerous and neither do they start nor do they end with Rhinehart.
>It's unethical.
I'd argue not according to most peoples' ethics.
>But people want to believe.
So, let them. It will be a learning experience, either for them, or for you. Maybe both.
>That's the basis of marketing: a person willing to believe an impossible claim and another person willing to lie.
There are enough experts with differing opinions that anyone who does anything will always be ignoring the advice of a few of them at any given time. That doesn't him right, but participation isn't compulsory in any way.
>has demonstrably already made dangerous errors and could reasonably do so again.
That is the nature of research. By adding analytical feedback to his dietary intake, he can correct mistakes. Groundbreaking discoveries are often made by young researchers who are not prejudiced in their thinking. This guy may be disadvantaged by his greater lack of knowledge in some ways, but it may turn out to be an advantage in the end. It is also a kind of sad commentary on the state of the field that this stuff isn't either: known to a high degree of confidence or if it were then, isn't communicated to non-experts in an effective way.
In fact, nutritional technology, and medical practice surrounding nutritional technology is eff-ing pathetic. (Medical technology is pathetic too, for other reasons.) We ought to have toilets that will do quasi-medical diagnostics for us by now. There is no good reason why that tech can't exist. But instead, it is far more common that people wait until they are unwell, often partially disabled in the case of dietary ailments before medical intervention is available. Dietary tech. is relatively unchanged for most people even, in affluent societies since the end of subsistence farming. If anything, many people are worse-off.
>while using paper-thin disclaimers to try to excuse himself from wrongful death and preventable illness lawsuits by relatives and insurance companies.
I'll just assume he's hired legal counsel, and said what they told him to say.
>If I was selling flying cars right now that did no more than eventually catch fire, I would be dragged into prison for fraud and being a danger to the public.
You'd be the subject of a Popular Mechanics article once or more times per year, and you might even get a cover.
>But because this bloke is selling it as a "supplement" while all the press is about total meal replacement, it's A-OK. Hunky freaking dory.
The problems with FDA regulation, food labeling, media coverage of products, advertising industry practice, are numerous and neither do they start nor do they end with Rhinehart.
>It's unethical.
I'd argue not according to most peoples' ethics.
>But people want to believe.
So, let them. It will be a learning experience, either for them, or for you. Maybe both.
>That's the basis of marketing: a person willing to believe an impossible claim and another person willing to lie.
Nothing new about that.